SSI 2011

The other system I auditioned in the Clarity room featured Nola Viper Reference speakers ($16,000/pair) driven by a Mimetism 7500 CD player and 7500 amplifier and with AC power conditioned, as it was for the YG/Jones system in the next story, by a Silver Circle Pure Power One isolation transformer (a Mikey Fremer fave).

Nordost can be usually relied on to provide effective demonstrations at shows, and SSI 2011 was no exception. The product demonstrated this time was the Sort Kone, which represents Nordost's latest thinking on component support. Nordost's Bjorn Bengtsson described the Sort Kone as a "directly coupled and mechanically tuned resonance control device, using a sophisticated new approach to the problem of supporting sensitive electronics." You can read all about the rationale for the design at www.nordost.com, but, whatever the theory, the bottom line is the sound.

In a room sponsored by the California-based distribution company On a Higher Note, Vivid’s entry-level loudspeaker, the V1.5 ($7700/pair and photographed here by Robert Deutsch) sounded immediate, lushly textured, and vivid indeed: Voices, violins, drums, andespeciallysaxophones leaped from their respective mixes with presence, power, and beauty. Associated gear included the SQ-38u integrated amp ($6000) and D-05 CD player ($5000) from Luxman, full-monty Bardot III record player from Brinkmann (including enhanced Origin Live Encounter arm and Brinkmann Pi cartridge: $12,300 for the package), and a full array of premium cables from Kubala-Sosnawhose proprietor, Joe Kubala, also played some of his own superb recordings through the demonstration system.

Dear Mikey: I know you spend a lot more time outside of the US than I doheck, you probably get out of the house more often than Iso it’s with non-snotty glee that I must inform you: For once in my life I beat you to the draw on the coolest new analog toy in the known universe. At the Teo Audio room, Dr. Chris Feickert gave me a copy of his 7” Adjust+ Test Record ($20), which comes in a red jacket. Its use requires only that you download a special app from Apple App Store (search on “platterspeed”), fit your iPod/iPad/iPhone/whatever with an accessory microphone (I already have one for use with my über-cool Peterson strobe tuner app), cue up the Feickert disc, and measure away. Tests include wow and flutter, crosstalk, skating force, and channel balance. You’ll probably get one soon. Luv yaArtie.

Let’s get right to it: The Coup de Foudre system comprising DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/96 loudspeakers ($12,000/pair), Leben CS300XS integrated amplifier ($3795) and RS30EQ phono preamp ($2795), Hommage T2 phono transformer ($4995), EMT TSD-15 phono cartridge ($1800), Brinkmann Bardo I turntable with Origin Live Encounter arm ($7990 and $2000, respectively), and Box Furniture 3S3 stand ($2300) was nothing less than wonderful: easily in the show’s Top Five, and quite possibly the best of the bunch. The star was the latest pre-production iteration of the O/96, a 96dB sensitive (geddit?) loudspeaker that uses a 10" paper-cone woofer and a 1" silk-dome tweeter in a wide-faced (geddit?) box with a birch-ply baffle and MDF everything else. Their presentation was solid, substantial, rich, and colorful, with great touch, timing, and, above all, dynamics. Flesh and blood? The system was like a day at the butcher shopbut everyone was smiling, and there were no straw boaters.

I admit: I’m impressed that the Danish loudspeaker manufacturer Peak Consult has made such a name for itself in little more than a decade. (Adding to my surprise is the fact that “Peak Consult” does not, at first glance, seem to mean anythingalthough the name makes sense once it’s been explained.) Now Jay Rein and Bluebird Music, North American distributors of Chord and Exposure electronics, Spendor loudspeakers, and van den Hul cables, have taken on the line.

As at previous Montreal Shows, parts and drive-unit distributor Solen Électronique had a room to show off their gear to DIY enthusiasts. But even anachrophile Art Dudley was puzzled by the center of this whizzer-cone fitted drive-unit sitting in his hand.

ProAc is an English loudspeaker manufacturer that doesn't change models willy-nilly: if it works well and people buy it, then why change it? And if change comes, it should be purely evolutionary, perhaps a refinement of the crossover, or drive units replaced by improved versions of the same models. So, for ProAc, replacing the popular Response D38 with the D40 ($12,000/pair) represents. . .

Although many (maybe most) of the demos at the 2011 SSI were computer-based, vinyl continued to have a presence, notably in the Aux 33 Tours room, which had an excellent assortment of LPs for sale. And not all the people showing an interest in LPs were old fogeys, as the photo illustrates.

Hop hop hop! Who’s that on top of the DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/96 loudspeaker? It’s Richard the bunny, and he’s come to thank Stephen Mejias for staying behind and getting Stereophile’s June issue off to the printers while JA, RD, and I frittered away the hours in sunny Montreal, eating snails, duck livers, and pig-leg shavings. Richard thoroughly enjoyed the DeVore Orangutans. (More on that later.)

Here's a photo of SSI's Sarah Tremblay and Stereophile's John Atkinson, who is covering the Show with Art Dudley and yours truly. JA will be presenting a seminar on how to understand loudspeaker measurements tomorrow (Sunday) at 2pm.

A pretty girl and headphones make for a photo opportunity that's not to be missed: this time, it was Elora Myers, Graphic Designer and Marketing Coordinator for Sonomax, who was demonstrating the sculpted ears earphones. And it's a very interesting product, too, providing custom-fitted earphones without the custom-fitted price ($199 for the PCS-100 and $299 for the PCS-200).